2020 Thanksgiving Menu

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RSteve

RSteve

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My daughters always insist on a traditional menu, but I'm tired of it. Turkey, asst.herb and cornbread dressings, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and a couple of different pies. I have always done the family cooking. My late wife was a stranger to the kitchen. Neither of my daughters is much of a cook, although they occasionally try.
I really want to take a major turn away from the norm. I'm thinking of scallops in a lemon butter sauce over egg noodles and a butterflied beef tenderloin stuffed with wild rice. I'll add cornbread dressing with fresh sage dressing, a cranberry walnut mold, and roasted fingerling potatoes.
 
Well that does sound absolutely amazing, I always prefer a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I think it is just tied to so many memories from childhood.
 
Beef tenderloin prices yesterday
Aldi ungraded $7.99 lb.
Restaurant Depot select $13.99 lb.
Costco Choice $21.99 lb., $29.99 Prime

Keep in mind, grading is voluntary and graders are paid by the meat packing house. Grading is not inspection. The same piece of meat could get different grades by different graders. Tenderloin is a non-working muscle, so ungraded, select, choice, or prime could all be equally as tender. In the hierarchy steak cuts, I personally think tenderloin has the least natural flavor. I always season it quite heavily a day before I roast it.
I bought two 3 3/4 pound tenderloins at Aldi. I was able to pick through a case. I removed the silver skin on both, removed the cap, and now its all in the freezer until the holiday.
 
I wrote earlier:
"My daughters always insist on a traditional menu, but I'm tired of it. Turkey, assorted herb and cornbread dressings, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and a couple of different pies."
So, I proposed the menu I suggested in my initial post. The response was not enthusiastic. We reached somewhat of a compromise. I'll make my preferred menu along with all the traditional stuff the daughters want. There should be enough leftovers/take-home for everyone to eat through the weekend.
I never cook the turkey whole. I always butcher it before roasting, so that the dark meat and breast are both roasted to their optimum internal temperature. To that end, I bought a frozen 16 lb. Butterball turkey, defrosted it, and now have several packets in my freezer with the whole bone-in breast, two thighs, two wings, two legs. The back, neck, assorted skin, bone, and other trimmings will go with the heart and gizzard in a crock pot with onion, celery, and carrots to make the gravy stock. Just before Thanksgiving, I'll buy a fresh additional 5-6 lb. turkey breast.
 
RSteve said:
I wrote earlier:
"My daughters always insist on a traditional menu, but I'm tired of it. Turkey, assorted herb and cornbread dressings, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and a couple of different pies."
So, I proposed the menu I suggested in my initial post. The response was not enthusiastic. We reached somewhat of a compromise. I'll make my preferred menu along with all the traditional stuff the daughters want. There should be enough leftovers/take-home for everyone to eat through the weekend.
I never cook the turkey whole. I always butcher it before roasting, so that the dark meat and breast are both roasted to their optimum internal temperature. To that end, I bought a frozen 16 lb. Butterball turkey, defrosted it, and now have several packets in my freezer with the whole bone-in breast, two thighs, two wings, two legs. The back, neck, assorted skin, bone, and other trimmings will go with the heart and gizzard in a crock pot with onion, celery, and carrots to make the gravy stock. Just before Thanksgiving, I'll buy a fresh additional 5-6 lb. turkey breast.
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Aaaand what time should I be over?
 
Do you know how to make oyster dressing? This was my Nonie's best creation. Cathy can't stand the smell of oysters, so it's not something I have had in close to 20 years now.
 
Carlos said:
Do you know how to make oyster dressing?
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My younger daughter uses the recipe below. It's from Jimmy Buffet's sister. I'm not particularly fond of jarred or canned oysters, myself. I've made a similar dressing using chunks of lobster or crab. I also add a large diced jalapeno, 12 oz. of defrosted frozen corn, and replace the parsley with cilantro.

Ingredients
1 1/2 sticks butter, divided, plus more for baking dish
1 (8-inch-square) baked and cooled sweet cornbread
15 slices bread, toasted and cooled
½ large onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
½ large green bell pepper, finely chopped
½ cup chicken broth, plus more as needed
2 dozen fresh or jarred or canned oysters, drained and coarsely chopped (reserve the oyster liquor)
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon hot sauce
¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh sage, finely chopped
1 ½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by 13-inch baking dish.​
  2. Crumble cornbread into a large bowl. Tear toasted the bread into very small pieces, add to cornbread, and toss to combine​
  3. Melt 8 tablespoons butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add onion, celery and bell pepper; sauté, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Cover pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are almost translucent, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove cover, add broth, and cook, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan, for 2 to 3 minutes. Continue to cook mixture for 1 more minute, then remove from heat, add to bread mixture, and stir to combine.​
  4. In a medium bowl, stir together oysters, lemon juice, hot sauce, parsley, sage, salt and pepper. Add to bread mixture and stir well to combine. If dressing seems too dry, add a little oyster liquor and up to 1/2 cup more chicken broth; mixture should be very moist.​
  5. Pour dressing into greased baking dish. Cut remaining 4 tablespoons butter into small pieces and scatter over top of dressing. Bake until top and sides are browned, 40 to 45 minutes.​
 
I've never had it with cornbread. Only white bread. Set out upon the dryer to dry for several days. Then torn into chunks. The rest is similar.
 
My ex father in law used to make oyster stew for thanksgiving. Loved it but haven't had it since our divorce some 25 years ago.
 
So you cut up your turkey prior to roasting. Interesting. Any special roasting instructions? What temp for how long?

Hmmm. Other than turkey I’m going with giblet & cornbread stuffing, russet potatoes made with an obscene amount of butter and cream cheese & assorted herbs, oven roasted asparagus w fresh garlic, whole cranberry sauce & a Nantucket Christmas Cranberry pie (new addition - google it) with French Vanilla ice cream. With just immediate family here we’re cutting way back on the food. Of course champagne & something like a Sauvignon Blanc.
 
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Blackhorse said:
So you cut up your turkey prior to roasting. Interesting. Any special roasting instructions? What temp for how long?
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For the breast, a good beginning is 20 minutes per pound. I always use an instant read meat thermometer. 4 lb. breast, 80 minutes at 350 degrees, BUT at 60 minutes, I check the internal temperature. At 150 degrees, I pull it and tent. It'll reach 160. The dark meat takes longer and rarely ever gets over cooked. Figure 25 minutes per lb. TL weight, but check the deepest part of the thigh at 75% time. Done at 160 degrees internal.
If you have the time and inclination, after butchering raw, put all the excess bone and skin with the neck, butt, gizzard, and heart +carrots, onion, celery, garlic, and a teaspoon of mixed pickling spice in a crock pot, cover with water and cook forever. Strain and add salt to taste. Use this stock for your dressing and gravy.
 
Wow. You put way more time into yours than I invest. I use the giblets and neck plus celery leaves, onion a chopped carrot plus sage, pepper and rosemary...adding salt later...simmered for about an hour...for stock. Then finely chop the giblets for stuffing. I use that stuffing in the bird plus a casserole into which I add an egg prior to baking. The extra cornbread stuffing is made to pkg directions...maybe adding some pecans and/or apple pieces. The potatoes, a family tradition, use 5 lbs of cooked russets into which are added a 1/4 lb salted butter and 1 pkg cream cheese plus chives or parsley or rosemary...salt and peppered to taste. These are made the day ahead of the morning of and nuked to desired temp and fluffed right before serving. About 5 years ago I started roasting the turkey in one of those table top roasting things. It works perfectly and keeps the oven clear for side dishes. Smart. The asparagus and/or green beans go into the oven at 425...on a baking sheet tossed with olive oil salt & pepper. We leave ‘em long. Never made Nantucket Cranberry Christmas pie before. Google it. It like fresh cranberries sugar and light spices in a buttered pie baking dish onto which you smear a heavy batter that seeps into the berries while baking. Relatives used to bring frozen key lime and chocolate cream which are lazy but OK...or a big Costco pecan pie which is awesome. Like the cranberry stuff it required vanilla ice cream. So...I’m the cook so I want decent food without spending the day in the kitchen. I can have the turkey prepped and stuffed in maybe an hour and the other dishes are done here and there. We eat at 3 - 4 p.m. so there’s no rush on a crazy early start time. No I didn’t forget the gravy. Although nectar of the gods we ditched it for heart health years ago. It’s a killer dinner as it is.
 
Blackhorse said:
Wow. You put way more time into yours than I invest.
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Except for the time I'm caring for my 15-month-old granddaughter and her occasional sibling, I really have a lot of time on my hands. During the pandemic, I'm pretty much a stay-at-home guy.
 
Today, I realize I'm the definition of dumbassitude. Whenever, I trim chicken before cooking, I save the trimmings and freeze them so when I have a substantial amount I can make stock. As I wrote, above, I did this with the turkey trimmings, as well. My intent was to make a singular turkey stock to use for the dressing and gravy. Well, I didn't label anything and decided to start the stock making process today. So, the dumb ass, me, defrosted all the frozen packets of trimmings and now they're in the crock pot, both chicken and turkey. After several hours of cooking, I'll strain the stock through cheesecloth, then put the stock back in the crock pot with onions, carrots, celery, parsley, etc. Then, I'll strain it again, season it and back in the crock pot for a couple of hours. It'll be a very good poultry stock, but not a turkey stock. Will my family know the difference? No! For all they care, I could be using Swanson's stock from a box. LOL
 
Very little of the leaf, perhaps from one stalk. I've found that too much leaf gives the stock a stronger vegetal taste. I also limit the parsley to curly, not flat leaf for the same reason. I don't use any of the parsley stems. I have, in the past, seriously screwed up the stock by not paying careful attention at the grocery and grabbing chervil instead of parsley. I've never knowingly tasted scat, but if I had, I think it would have tasted like the chervil laced chicken stock.
 
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